Schools across Missouri see decline in football participation

A cloud of dust combined from the gravel roads and the crops nearby disperse to reveal a red-brick building. The structure is seemingly out-of-place with the rest of the area mainly being used as farmland. Just before the 320th Street intersection on the west side of U.S. Highway 136 in Nodaway County, sits Jefferson Conception High School.

The tin shed next to the red-brick building has a sign that reads “Home of the Eagles.” For Johnnie Silkett, this is not just the “Home of the Eagles” but also where he’s taught social studies for the past two years.

Inside, the bell rings everyday at 3:02 p.m. While the bell serves as the signal to go home for most, to Silkett it signals for him to get ready to head to Barnard, Missouri, where he puts aside his lesson plans in exchange for a whistle and playbook for the past two years.

“We were on the verge of collapsing our football program about four or five years ago,” Silkett said. “I still think the value of what our kids are getting out of it right now is really good.”

Before 2021, Silkett was the South Nodaway superintendent and the junior high football coach for Platte Valley — a combination between Jefferson Conception and South Nodaway since 2016. Between the spring and fall of 2021, Silkett made the switch from South Nodaway to Jefferson Conception and became the varsity football coach for Platte Valley. At the same time, North Nodaway was added to the pairing.

Silkett said North Nodaway was initially with West Nodaway, but when West Nodaway combined with Nodaway-Holt, North Nodaway was left by themselves with not enough players to even form a team, so that’s when the trio formed. He said the three schools decided it would be mutually beneficial to combine for a team. Providing an opportunity for the students to play was the most important thing, he said.

“Social media has made it much easier to communicate and be friends with kids from other schools, so you don’t have the hard rivalries like you used to,” Silkett said. “I believe that made a big difference in putting this together.”

He said today’s youth are more adapted to having to work with people from other areas. Being on social media and connecting with people from a lot of different places, he said, has made them better prepared to combine.

“‘We’ve always done it this way’ attitude, doesn’t fit this world,” Silkett said.

Nearly 161 miles away from Nodaway County, a football field lies empty. Its ground is still attempting to grow back grass from the years of use. The indentations in the ground where players used to run are still visible. On the northwest and southeast sides of the green and brown field sit groups of bleachers. The bleachers remain, but the fans who used to occupy them on Friday nights do not. There’s no need to.

This field, like its school, sits on the north side of Chilhowee, Missouri. Chilhowee was able to field an eight-man football team, partly due to a partnership with Leeton High School 12 minutes east, from 2009-18. However, after the 2018 season, the football program was forced to fold.

Athletic Director Randy Buss, who has been at the position for four years, said the numbers were always low, and Chilhowee didn’t get the best athletes out for football due to them focusing on other sports.

“That last year, we had nine players for eight-man football,” Buss said. “I think the community was let down. You know, we set up a field, we bought these real nice aluminum bleachers and put up a crow’s nest. So when that disappears, you look out there and see your football field with nothing going on. It is a little weird.”

Chilhowee and Platte Valley were both forced to change. Platte Valley was forced to have a combination of three different schools to form a team but still only had 22 players on its 2022 team. The average high school football team has 40-50 players.

In its final year of play, even after combining with another school, Chilhowee managed to only have nine players. In high school, it’s common to see players play both sides of the ball. However, most of the time, the players can get a break from time to time over the course of the game. Of course, that was not the case for Chilhowee’s players.

“By the third quarter, there was just nothing left,” Buss said. “Kind of led us to the decision of ‘Look, we can’t compete.’”

Chilhowee is the worst case scenario — having to fold the entire team. However, schools across the state of Missouri are getting closer to that reality.

In the past 34 years, the number of eight-man teams in Missouri has grown from 15 in 1988 to 42 at the end of 2022. Some of these teams have also combined over the years, such as Platte Valley, Nodaway Valley, Norborne/Hardin-Central, Drexel/Miami, King City/Union Star and Stewartsville/Osborn. Of the 15 schools in 1988, only three haven’t been forced to at least partner with another school to keep their team — North Andrew, Southwest Livingston and South Holt. A few schools over the years did not stand the test of time such as Chilhowee, The Missouri School for the Deaf and Heartland Christian.

Besides all playing eight-man, there is another thing all 42 teams have in common — a ninth through 11th grade enrollment of less than 140 students, even with some of the teams’ enrollment numbers being combined between multiple schools. For reference, Maryville football has 59 players on the team between ninth and 11th grade, alone. Maryville High School has 354 students from freshmen to juniors. The median size of a Kansas City high school is 667 students.

Schools across the state are being faced with low numbers. Just off Interstate 70 in Concordia, Missouri, another team tries to navigate through the transition. The Orioles have been an eight-man team for four years. Orioles’ coach J.K. Basye, who has been in the orange and black through the whole journey, said it was a difficult situation, but it was for the best of the program.

“I don’t think we were sad about it,” Basye said. “Actually, it was the best for us because, honestly, I don't know if we'd still be playing football right now.”

Just as the Ozark Mountains begin to cover the Missouri skyline, 47 miles away from Springfield, Missouri, Lockwood coach Clay Lasater has his players run drills. Some of the players were on Lockwood’s final 11-man team. In three years' time, they've figured out how the eight-man system works. Lasater said it was hard for the players and the fans to get used to the new style.

“When you’re making a change to go eight-man, for some people it feels like a game they’ve never played, maybe never even watched,” Lasater said. “I think, since making the transition, people have realized it’s still football. It’s still hitting, blocking, tackling and there’s just three less guys out there, but it’s still football.”

Dekalb has the lowest enrollment with 62 students. The number of players on the team is a mere 16. Injuries happen in daily life and every other sport, but football causes the most injuries out of any sport. With only 16 players, one injury can be catastrophic for a team. Dekalb coach Kaleb Wardlow, who has been the coach for 10 years, knows all too well about this challenge. He said scout teams sometimes have to be filled by a coach or a tackling dummy, and players are forced to learn multiple positions.

“Whenever one goes down, it’s like a domino effect — everything changes,” Wardlow said. “There’s not just one person you can plug in. It’s difficult to learn one position, let alone two or three.”

The eight-man team with the highest enrollment is just a little bit over 40 minutes south of Maryville on Highway 71. Bishop LeBlond stands at the top with an enrollment of 139 students from freshmen to juniors — more than double the number of Dekalb. The Golden Eagles also have more than double the players Dekalb does with 35.

Just five years ago, this team would’ve been nearing the end of an 11-man season. However, LeBlond coach Chuck Davis said the administration looked at the enrollment numbers and decided it was best to move down to eight-man.

“It was really just like starting totally from scratch,” Davis said of the transition. “I think it was good for the players to be underdogs. While I was a little sad that we went to eight-man, I think it was the best thing to happen to our football program.”

He said he had to contact coaches and others around the state for any type of advice or film they could share. It was a rough transition, and the players were a little confused in the first year, he said.

There are a variety of reasons for the decline of participation in high school football in Missouri. Between 2010-20, the rural areas of the country saw a population decrease of roughly 289,000 out of 46 million. While that is just a minus 0.6% change, it was the first time in recorded history that there was a decade-long population decrease. In a state where 97.4% of the land is classified as rural, 78 of the 114 counties (68%) in Missouri saw a population decrease in the 2020 census. In Nodaway County alone, from 2010-21, the population dropped from 23,402 to 21,160 people.

Of course, less people means less students in schools which in turn means less football players. While enrollment can go up and down from year-to-year, nearly the entire state, including the areas of the teams experiencing a number decrease, has this issue. The coaches have similar opinions on whether or not the trend will continue.

“I can’t really tell what it’s gonna be like 10 years from now, but most likely we’ll continue to have lower and lower populations,” Silkett said.

“I think that’s something you’re gonna continue to see, even with bigger schools, and having to go to eight-man or face smaller numbers,” Lasater said.

Reasons for the decline of football participation are limitless. It could be due to the concern that football is too dangerous, especially with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) being learned about more and more. CTE is a brain condition that progresses from repeated blows to the head and concussions.

Basye said he thinks it’s all about education. He said if more is learned about CTE and how to avoid it, people won’t be so nervous about football.

“I always tell people, I got hurt worse playing baseball than I ever got hurt playing football, and I played football a lot longer than baseball,” Basye said. “I do think the publicity of CTE and concussions and all that kind of stuff, has put a little bit of a damper on it. But, I think with the way things are being taught now, it’ll turn around.”

Another factor is the worry that sometimes the environment in high school football and with the coaches can be toxic for the athletes.

“It’s a passionate game, and there are times players and coaches alike will use words that maybe they shouldn’t,” Davis said. “But, at the end of the day, I, in my heart, believe every kid on that team knows that the effort I give and the intensity I coach with is to maximize their potential. … If parents hear me screaming and yelling, it’s to their child, not at their child.”

With the Missouri eight-man State Championship set between Bishop LeBlond and North Andrew Dec. 1, these issues have already affected a few schools before the end of the 2022 season. Knox County High School was forced to forfeit its first postseason game and the rest of its season due to lack of players. Additionally, two schools have joined the ranks of eight-man football in Princeton High School and Paris High School. While still in 11-man, Plattsburg only had 23 players on the roster, which is less than some eight-man teams.

Regardless of what transitions are made, what the reasons are for the decrease and the challenges that come up, going from 11-man to eight-man still provides an opportunity to play football.

Davis said whether they're near the Nodaway County border, at the Lake of the Ozarks or in St. Joseph like his team, those who want to play football should have the chance. He said even though high school football can be tough at times, the experiences made on the gridiron are priceless.

“Let’s be honest, high school football kind of sucks six days of the week, then it’s really exciting on Friday night,” Davis said. “When you hear about teams not wanting to co-op or would rather not have a team than go to eight-man, I think it’s a disservice to the kids based on the pride of adults. I can’t imagine giving the news to an entire team full of kids that they’re not gonna play anymore. Very few things build camaraderie like going through tough times with your friends, and I think every kid deserves an opportunity to feel what it feels like.”